a ritual recitation of words or sounds believed to have a magical effect

The act or process of using formulas sung or spoken, with occult ceremonies, for the purpose of raising spirits, producing enchantment, or affecting other magical results; enchantment.

A formula of words used as above.

A magical charm said or sung; enchantment.

A magical charm uttered by singing: enchantment.

A charm; spell; magic rite.

The utterance of supposedly magical words; a charm; spell.

The act of enchanting; enchantment; a magie spell.

The act of enchanting by songs or words of sorcery.

So she said to the king: " I would say the incantation over a beast of the field, but over a king I could not say it. – The Golden Fleece and the Heroes who Lived Before Achilles by Padraic Colum

That the wizard, personally, of his own individual power could slay an enemy by incantation they did not believe; but that the spirit of the Banana or of other inanimate objects could do so, they believed most profoundly. – Witch-Doctors by Charles Beadle

By means of an incantation these resume their natural positions, and the little boy gets up and walks off, apparently none the worse for his most trying ordeal. – Indian Conjuring by L. H. Branson

The traveller, after muttering certain words of prayer or incantation, gazed for some time steadfastly through the tube, and then, as though describing slowly and with difficulty a scene upon which he was looking, he said- " I see distant, far distant, by reason of the countless leagues and many centuries that intervene, a strange and populous country. – Tales of the Caliph by H. N. Crellin

And to the same authority is accredited the saying that even the world might be made to stand still by means of a suitable incantation; a saying which voiced the popular belief in the miraculous power of words. – Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery by Robert Means Lawrence

There a familiar sound met his ears- the roll of a drum followed by an incantation in a quavering, high- pitched voice. – The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol by William J. Locke

This we could guess, for after awhile the incantation ceased and the crowd in front of the big man with the cat upon his head opened out, while behind him a column of smoke rose into the air, as though light had been set to some sunk furnace. – Ayesha The Further History of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed by H. Rider Haggard

The incantation is spoken, we find ourselves in the region of Horai- the fairyland of Japan- with its arch of liquid blue sky, lukewarm, windless atmosphere, an atmosphere enormously old, but of ghostly generations of souls blended into one immense translucency, souls of people who thought in ways never resembling occidental ways. – Lafcadio Hearn by Nina H. Kennard

My correspondent says as soon as the child is born the Fetish- Man binds certain fetish preparations round his limbs, using at the same time a form of incantation or prayer. – West African studies by Mary Henrietta Kingsley

After a short and rapid symphony, a wind- instrument took up a wild strain, while a human voice was again heard chanting to the music, words which were so much involved by the composition of the air, as to render it impossible to trace more than that their burthen was a sort of mysterious incantation of some ocean deity. – The Water-Witch or, The Skimmer of the Seas by James Fenimore Cooper

No remedy, we are told, was administered without mysterious ceremony and incantation. – Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery by Robert Means Lawrence

On the fourteenth of the dark half of the moon at night, I had gone into a place where dead bodies are burned, for the purpose of accomplishing a witch's incantation. – Vikram-and-the-Vampire-Classic-Hindu-Tales-of-Adventure-Magic-and-Romance by Burton, Isabel, Lady

Then he will rub the wound again, and again the head of the snake, all the time muttering prayers, making passes with his hands, bowing his body to the ground, and going through other forms of worship, and when he has concluded he will assure you that the bite of the snake has been made harmless by the incantation. – Modern India by William Eleroy Curtis

Or one might go out into the harbour late upon a winter afternoon, and see it as a city of a million lights, rising like an incantation from the sea. – The Metropolis by Upton Sinclair

It may be an amulet, a cabalistic symbol, an incantation, a bread- pill, or even sudden fright. – Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery by Robert Means Lawrence

But at her side Ulka was standing erect, tall, slender and beautiful, but just as he cast his missile the evil voice of the old medicine man began a still more evil incantation. – Legends of Vancouver by E. Pauline Johnson

He himself, having been born at noon on a Sunday, was, therefore, one of the elect, if he but knew the incantation. – The Marvellous History of the Shadowless Man and The Cold Heart by Adelbert von Chamisso Wilhelm Hauff

After an incantation and jadoo- music, he caught hold of the handle and raised the bowl and the rice slowly into space. – Indian Conjuring by L. H. Branson